Excessive Dreaming & exhausted?

My brother has been on cpap for awhile.
I am on it too and know enough to ask him questions.
I do not believe his specific complaint has to do with any mask or machine inadaquacies.

He says he has vivid dreams seemingly all night long, and he wakes up exhausted from them.

He started cpap last year, used it for a couple of months then quit, complaining of the mask and his tossing and turning. Then recently (to my urging) he re-started, with a new mask he likes, and has licked the tossing and turning problem with a new special mattress. He's been back on this a couple of months, after about 6 months off of it.

He just doesn't understand why the excessive dreaming and why he wakes up exhausted from it. I know vivid dreaming happens alot to new users of cpap, getting adjusted to now having deep sleep.

But apparently this major dreaming and waking up exhausted has happened all the time, in the past too. The only difference was during the OSA symptom phase leading up to diagnosis it was less, due to the interrupted sleeping patterns.

Has anyone else experienced chronic heavy dreaming and exhaustion from it, both before and after starting cpap?


Thanks.

I too do that dreaming but it seems to be part of the misery andf will probaby pass on after a spell. It seems to lessen with time.

barnaby

I too do that dreaming but it seems to be part of the misery andf will probaby pass on after a spell. It seems to lessen with time.

barnaby

It sounds like REM Rebound to me. REM Rebound is when your body is sleep deprived and wants to stay in REM sleep for as long as it can. This is the same situation that Narcoleptic's go through. It can be exhausting. it usually passes within a month to 6 week period. This is normal.

Ted

Titrator wrote:It sounds like REM Rebound to me. REM Rebound is when your body is sleep deprived and wants to stay in REM sleep for as long as it can. This is the same situation that Narcoleptic's go through. It can be exhausting. it usually passes within a month to 6 week period. This is normal.

Ted

Thank you.
I had heard of REM Rebound. And I certainly hope it is this.
If it goes away within a couple of months, that's great.
But I understood from my brother had this dreaming/exhaustion thing before ever exhibiting sleep apnea symptoms.

If it's not REM Rebound and he continues to have this excessive dreaming and exhaustion, might there be some other condition that does this? Maybe something unrelated to OSA? Just wondering.